STRAT

Hi guys, can i ask for your landscaping expertise help please?

ok, my back garden was basically a grassy muddy tip. Then this weekend we had a brand new patio laid and also completely covered the lawn over with slate chip.

(cant have grass in any shape or form as my dog would dig it up for sure)

so now, we've got it looking very nice. but it's most basic. it's a nice blank canvas if you like. it's now at a stage we can mould it and shape it and make it looking really nice. but i'm no landscapist and dont really know where to start.

so here's where you come in, if you have any time. i'm just looking for sketches and ideas. something to inspire me. nothing 3d cgi, just plain old sketching stuff if you prefer.

my only ideas would be a nice planted wall trellis/arch feature separating the patio from the slate chips, some semi burried slab stones leading down to the washing line poll, and a nice pond feature somewhere in there. and oh yeah, NO GRASS

what do you think?

below are piccys of the garden. please feel free to do your worst

STRAT

Ernest Burden

My wife is the horticulturist in my family, I man the shovels. But my first thought is a line or arrangement of boxes to have either flowering plants or food crops. My wife uses EarthBoxes for vegetables that are on a paved area behind our house. Eventually we will remove the paving, but for now the boxes are great, and you can move 'em. Even after that she will keep the tomatoes and beans in the boxes to avoid them picking up any pesticides in the soil. The boxes have a water resevoir in the bottom, so care is easy, and plants grow like weeds.

You will put a table on the paved part?

Oh, and what's with the toys--you don't have kids, do you?

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Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering

STRAT

yes, the patio table is shown in the phots.

no, no kids. just a playful pup (also in phots)

Eric

I really like your garden/yard. It's like nothing I've seen in the US and it has great deal of character that I'm not accustomed to seeing here. It has a very cozy feel to it.

You might try grouping your pots together into a few clusters in the corners of your garden, as opposed to having them somewhat evenly spaced along the fence. I think this adds more visual impact and interest.

Another thing you might try is varying the height of your pots. Buy some cheap pots to use as a stand for another pot to raise it up, or find an old bench or something you can set them on. Some people cut holes in the bottom of an old wooden chair and set the pot in the hole (with the lip of the pot resting on the rim of the hole). I've also seen people turn old wheelbarrows into plant beds - drill some holes in the bottom for drainage. It really just depends on the overall look you're going for. Heck, some people lay a large pot on its side and bury half of it under ground - looks like the pot fell over and has since filled in around it with durt. They plant flowers in and spilling out of it - just like it fell over.

If your picket fence will support the weight, buy some pot holders that hang from the rail on the fence with some nice cascading flowers.

Perhaps plant a grape vine or a flowering vine at the base of your pickets on one or two sides and train them to grow along your pickets.

Maybe you could pull your table further out away from the house and allow you to add some plants to that wall of the house to help cover up the pipes. Maybe remove the planter box and add two more, one to each window that runs the width of each window. Plant seasonal flowers, or herbs with cascading flowers.

A couple more ornamental trees would be nice too - in large pots. Perhaps some fruit trees that you like to eat. I have a lemon tree - my wife loves lemonade.

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Eric Adams
http://particlerealities.blogspot.com/

Ernest Burden

I should have guessed that. But there are no dogs in my vision of the world, so I often forget that not everyone thinks like I do. I'm not what you would call a 'dog person'. I don't like dogs.

Do you think we're on the right track with planters, though?

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Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering

Ray

Get a clothes dryer, then you can turn that clothes line post into a permanent "Festivus" pole and be the envy of the neighborhood!

wda

I'd mess with the perspective a bit

WDA

Attached Images

gplan1.jpg (40.6 KB, 41 views)

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From the calm seas.... Into the CG Fire...... Into the Heart of Texas

Ernest Burden

I recently learned that clothes dryers are very uncommon in the UK. Not washers, just dryers. I guess it's one less appliance to catch fire.

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Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering

Brian Cassil

I think they are fairly uncommon just about everywhere except north america. I can say that clothes do smell a lot better coming of a line.